Chapter 95: Yi Qincang’s Suggestion

After listening to Yi Qincang’s account, Xie Fengchao was silent for a moment before saying with regret, "This Zheng Zhuxi would stand out even among the direct line of the Fang surname."

"Zheng Zhuxi forging nine alien apertures in under nine months is beyond what I expected, but not entirely surprising," Yi Qincang said with feeling. "She has long been known as Candle Heart, perfectly aligned with Brightnight Sect’s Candlelit Nocturne Sutra. She can ’understand herself and clarify her path’ without needing to travel the jianghu, so there’s no worry that forging apertures too frequently or improving too quickly will put her at risk of deviation. What truly astonished me was her swordplay—compared to three months ago, it has undergone a complete transformation, her manner taking shape in a manner well worth watching. It’s no wonder she could accomplish all of that."

Xie Fengchao thought it over and said, "Is Brightnight Sect waiting for Zheng Zhuxi to reach the perfected Great Proliferation Realm before she travels the jianghu, in pursuit of the Resolute state?"

In the martial world today, the inner cultivation required at different realms was broadly divided into five stages: Guarding Unity, Illumined Mind, Resolute, Arcane Accord, and Unfettered.

At the Initial Realm and Human Realm—that is, the body tempering, qi cultivation, and aperture refinement stages—one only needed to settle the mind and hold to Guarding Unity. The vast majority of people, through appropriate training, could meet this requirement.

Beginning with the Great Proliferation Realm, practitioners must install non-human organs, forge alien apertures, and condense intangible meridians. Without sufficient spiritual and inner cultivation to rein in the body’s transformations, problems arose easily. Some deviated and went mad, some transformed into savage beasts, and others were left mentally unstable or physically impaired. It was therefore necessary for martial artists to gradually "understand themselves and clarify their path" through cultivation, travel, and self-refinement, in order to reach the Illumined Mind state.

Illumined Mind concerned the self, but the world was full of disturbances and life full of hardship. Every martial artist inevitably faced moments of confusion and wavering. Only by enduring all manner of trials and still remaining firm in what one thought and sought could one be called Resolute. This was the inner state required for the Dharma Realm. Many who became Grandmasters through accumulated resources or other means fell short in this regard. Not only did they struggle to advance further or suffer premature physical decline, but they also became susceptible to the influence of their arts.

Arcane Accord and Unfettered corresponded respectively to the inner cultivation required at the Heaven-Man Realm and the Spirit Platform Realm.

These distinctions had been gradually worked out after the severing of the connection between heaven and earth. Before that, there had been many ways to elevate the spirit and forcibly govern bodily transformations through spiritual power alone. Inner cultivation helped, but was not strictly necessary, much like making a quantum leap by consuming divine creatures.

What Xie Fengchao meant was whether Brightnight Sect intended to have Zheng Zhuxi approach or even attain the Resolute state before she became a Grandmaster—in which case, stepping into the Dharma Realm would come as naturally as water flowing downhill.

"Sect Master Tao probably didn’t think this way originally, but now it’s hard to say." Yi Qincang smiled. "If Zheng Zhuxi can maintain her current rate of progress, another year or more—around the new year next year—she could reach the perfected Great Proliferation Realm. At that point she’ll have been in the Great Proliferation Realm for just over two years. Brightnight Sect’s other disciples travel the jianghu at this same stage."

"One truly cannot underestimate the talented young people of the world." Xie Fengchao hadn’t expected to encounter such exceptional rising talent in a small place like Dingjiang Prefecture.

Yi Qincang switched to another question.

"I’ve heard you have five signature throwing weapons. I only know of three—Parting’s Grief, Thunderchild, and Instant Blossoms. What are the other two? Heh heh, if it’s inconvenient to say, you don’t have to."

"Meng Po’s Brew and Star Shatter," Xie Fengchao answered openly.

"Star Shatter..." Yi Qincang repeated the name.

The Flame Capital’s Xie clan cultivated the Star-Shattering Precious Canon, passed down from the Fang lineage. A throwing weapon bearing the name Star Shatter meant formidable implications.

Yi Qincang collected his thoughts and said with a teasing smile, "I imagine everyone who has seen all five of those throwing weapons is already dead."

"Most of them." Xie Fengchao smiled. "Sometimes I’ve used them to save a friend; I can’t very well kill the friend too."

Yi Qincang gave a small nod and asked with a touch of curiosity, "Which signature throwing weapon did you use to kill Ghost Blade Lin Yu?"

"Parting’s Grief." Xie Fengchao didn’t conceal it.

Yi Qincang glanced toward the corridor outside and steered the conversation back to important matters.

"Your five signature throwing weapons are extraordinarily powerful, but they won’t be usable in a friendly spar. Relying only on ordinary throwing weapons, palm techniques, and footwork against Zheng Zhuxi would put you at quite a disadvantage. Why not first spar with Brightnight Sect’s regular disciples, familiarize yourself with their arts, and then approach Zheng Zhuxi?"

All his roundabout talking was a gentle way of warning Xie Fengchao. If this young man’s pride got the better of him during a spar and he went all out and deployed one of those five signature throwing weapons, the situation would become very difficult to resolve.

"Uncle Yi, you have thought this through more carefully than I have. You’re absolutely right." After hearing Zheng Zhuxi’s string of accomplishments, Xie Fengchao had already had second thoughts. He was happy to take the graceful way out now that it was offered.

Half his strength lay in the throwing weapons themselves; without his most powerful ones, he’d be at far too much of a disadvantage in a spar.

Yi Qincang relaxed, glanced at the sky outside the window, and said with a smile, "It’s just about noon. Will you join me for a few cups of light wine?"

"Gladly." Having delivered the head and collected the bounty, Xie Fengchao was in high spirits and happy to enjoy some time with an elder.

As he followed Yi Qincang past the yamen gate on the way to the dining hall on the other side, his peripheral vision caught sight of that worldly-limited Brightnight Sect disciple from earlier, seated on the edge of the stone platform outside the gate, holding a wooden meal box and chopsticks, eating with great enjoyment. Beside him sat a tall and slender young woman, also in Brightnight Sect’s black tight-fitting clothes, holding her own meal box. Even from the side, one could tell she was exceptionally attractive and carried herself with distinction.

Quite free and easy... Xie Fengchao sometimes wished he could just sit wherever he liked without worrying about appearances, but twenty-one years of family upbringing had made that genuinely impossible for him.

Outside the yamen gate, Zheng Zhuxi scooped a few spoonfuls of rice, glanced down at the gray-white stone tiles beneath her, and said with a touch of feeling, "My father’s family carries on the Confucian tradition and has many rules of conduct. Back at Brightnight Sect, my fellow disciples often thought I was too rigid. But when I got to Changhua, my peers privately laughed at me as an Alpine Lake mountain monkey. Heh heh—who knew I would one day actually sit on the ground and eat in public."

"You climbed onto a rooftop that night." Ding Songyan gave his senior sister a sideways glance.

After receiving a glare in return, he smiled and said, "Out in the jianghu, everything is pared down. Where do all these rules come in? Having something to eat, somewhere to sit, somewhere to lie down, that’s already quite good.

"Senior Sister, would you rather roam the world sword in hand, championing justice or travel with a crowd of servants attending to your every need?"

"The former, obviously." Zheng Zhuxi answered without a moment’s hesitation. "I was just reflecting!"

She then asked, "Why won’t you go to the dining hall? Why insist on staying out here?"

"The yamen constables find it a bit awkward to see me," Ding Songyan said with a small smile.

He was understating it. Several constables and clerks at this yamen had died at the hands of Qiu Chen—that is, "Ding Shengyi." Their colleagues knew that Ding Songyan was also a victim, entirely innocent. But seeing him inevitably brought back the past and left an uncomfortable feeling.

"I see. I hadn’t thought of that." Zheng Zhuxi was always open and forthright—it had never occurred to her that what the "Ding household" members had done could affect her view of her junior brother.

What he had done himself was another matter entirely!

Noticing her junior brother occasionally looking up toward the notice board on the side wall, Zheng Zhuxi glanced over curiously.

"What are you looking at?"

In Ding Songyan’s eyes, a sky full of stars had overtaken the dim candlelight, letting him read the distant wanted notices with perfect clarity.

He said with an eager note in his voice, "Seeing if there’s a bounty that suits me."

The wanted notices on the board went up as high as Grandmaster. Among them, the reward money for fourth-ranked Mortal Surpassed and third-ranked Form Transfigured was roughly several thousand to over ten thousand taels. Sixth-ranked Anomaly Manifested and fifth-ranked Profound Discerned were in the hundreds to thousands. For the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks below the Great Proliferation Realm, it was only a few dozen to a couple hundred taels.

As for Initial Realm practitioners—given how widespread martial arts were today—if they actually committed a crime, they’d likely be unable to beat even bystanders and would have a hard time escaping alive, let alone earning themselves a wanted notice. Even in a bandit stronghold, they’d only ever be foot soldiers, with no standing to be worth a bounty.

"You’re not short of money, so why bother with those?" Zheng Zhuxi gave a light chuckle. "If you’re looking for opportunities to test yourself in real combat, in a few months we can take a look around the area. I’ll just have to take responsibility for whatever you get into."

She already knew that her junior brother’s cultivation resources were fully provided by the sect as a top priority.

True enough... It was only now that Ding Songyan realized he didn’t actually have much need for money. The Brightnight Sect covered all his food, daily living, and cultivation resources. In the prefectural city he already had a residence and servants. The silver he carried had barely been touched over the past three months—he’d only spent a tael or two buying flowers, aromatics, and bathing supplies for his senior sister.

Sigh, is this craving for money a leftover habit from my past life? Ding Songyan thought to himself.

He replied to Zheng Zhuxi with a touch of eagerness, "Sounds good. In the near future, let’s leave the sect grounds and go take a look around."

After mastering a new martial art, it was only natural to want to test it in real combat!

The two quickly finished what was in their meal boxes, pressed a hand to the ground, and leapt to their feet.

Zheng Zhuxi said with a smile to Pan Yunzhou, who was still on duty at the gate, "Young Hero Pan, good job. It’s our turn to take over. Hurry to the dining hall and fill your stomach."

"Everyone takes turns, so it’s only fair." Pan Yunzhou thought for a moment and said, "I’ll take the liberty of calling you Junior Sister Zheng. You can call me Senior Brother Pan. There’s no need to be so formal."

"Thank you for your efforts, Senior Brother Pan," Zheng Zhuxi replied politely.

Another hour or so passed before three other Brightnight Sect disciples came to relieve them, meaning Ding Songyan and the others could rest for a full eight hours.

Zheng Zhuxi still needed to brief other disciples on the handover details. She took Ding Songyan’s identification token, intending to drop it off at the records room on the way. Ding Songyan waited for her at the yamen entrance so they could walk back to Baoping Lane together.

Just then, Xie Fengchao walked out, both guest and host having thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Wearing his bamboo crown and straight-cut robe, he glanced at Ding Songyan, who had already finished his duty, and felt a sudden impulse as he recalled what Yi Qincang had said.

He ventured to ask,"Friend, what realm are you currently at?"

"Perfected aperture refinement," Ding Songyan answered, somewhat bemused.

Apertures outside the body were still apertures!

Xie Fengchao smiled.

"Would you be willing to spar? I’ll suppress my strength to below the Great Proliferation Realm."

"Me?" Ding Songyan pointed at himself, simultaneously puzzled and amused.

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